Revolution 250: Stories From The First Shore

Women, War, and Service: Sarah Osborn Benjamin

Podcast Description
This March, Revolution 250: Stories from The First Shore honors the women of the American Revolution. Sarah Osborn Benjamin followed the Continental Army through years of hardship, carrying food through battle lines and dodging gun and cannon fire during the Siege of Yorktown. Her story shows how women stepped into danger and created opportunity in a war that relied on their strength.

Women, War, and Letters: Betsy Ambler Carrington

This March, Revolution 250: Stories from The First Shore highlights women of the American Revolution. Betsy Ambler Carrington recorded the upheaval of wartime Virginia through her letters. She later worked to expand education and opportunity for young women facing an uncertain future in the new nation.

Women, Words, and Power: Clementina Rind

This March, Revolution 250: Stories from The First Shore honors the women of the American Revolution. When Clementina Rind took control of the Virginia Gazette after her husband’s death, she preserved one of the most powerful tools of the era. Through her press, revolutionary ideas spread across the colonies and helped shape the growing call for independence.

Women, Property, and Power: Anne Roberts of the Golden Quarter

This March, Revolution 250: Stories from The First Shore honors the women of the American Revolution for Women's History Month: Anne Roberts inherited land, defied expectations, and became central to a landmark legal case that tested women’s rights and the meaning of freedom in the early republic.

Crispus Attucks – The War’s First Hero

If you live in the Hampton Roads region, you have likely heard the name Crispus Attucks. On Revolution 250: Stories from The First Shore, we look beyond the familiar name to the confrontation in Boston that made him the first casualty of the American Revolution and a lasting symbol of protest and sacrifice.

James Armistead Lafayette: Freedom Won, Freedom Denied

On Revolution 250: Stories from The First Shore, we tell the story of James Armistead Lafayette, an enslaved Virginian who became a trusted spy during the final year of the war. His intelligence helped shape the campaign at Yorktown, yet his own freedom did not come until years later.

The Skirmish at James Plantation

On Revolution 250: Stories from The First Shore, we explore the winter raid at James Plantation during Benedict Arnold’s campaign in Southeast Virginia. The surprise attack brought heavy Patriot losses, but it also showed that support for independence remained strong even late in the Revolution.

The Sound of the Fields

On Revolution 250: Stories from The First Shore, we explore the music created by enslaved African Americans in colonial Virginia. From field hollers to early spirituals, these songs carried labor, belief, and resistance, shaping American music in lasting ways.

Joseph Harris – The Spark of Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation

On Revolution 250: Stories from The First Shore, we tell the story of Joseph Harris, an enslaved Chesapeake pilot whose escape and naval skill helped influence Lord Dunmore’s proclamation. His story reveals how the fight for independence was also a fight over who would be free.

Lord Dunmore: The Last of The Governors

On Revolution 250: Stories from The First Shore, we examine Lord Dunmore, Virginia’s last royal governor. Once welcomed by the colony’s leaders, his decisions to shut down the legislature, flee to British ships, and issue a proclamation that reshaped the war helped hasten Virginia’s path to revolution.